Kejriwal asks Modi to apologize over Pathankot probe

New Delhi, April 5 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “apologize to the nation” for allowing a Pakistani team to probe the terror attack on the Pathankot IAF base.

Amid Pakistani media reports that the Pakistani investigators had concluded that the January 2 attack was staged by India, Kejriwal insisted that there had been some “deal” between the BJP and Islamabad.

“What’s the deal, we are unable to understand,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said at a media meet. “What was the need to invite the very people who attacked the base to investigate the attack?”

Kejriwal said there was mass anger over the Modi government’s decision to allow a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to visit the Pathankot base and also hold talks with the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He recalled that Modi used to thunder at election rallies during the Lok Sabha election of 2014 that one had to be stern with Pakistan and that sending “love letters” to Islamabad won’t help.

“So what happened now? Why did our prime minister surrender to Pakistan? What were the compulsions that made him go to Pakistan to wish Happy Birthday to (Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif?

“Let them (government) tell us what has been the deal… What happened when Modi went to Pakistan… Modi should apologize to the nation.”

The chief minister mocked at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its leaders’ enthusiasm to make everyone say “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

“They keep telling everyone to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. And they stabbed Bharat Mata in the back… This is a foreign policy failure.”

Earlier, Kejriwal tweeted: “Even though BJP/RSS chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai,’ but by inviting ISI to India, they have stabbed Mother India in the back.”

The Pakistan team that visited India included an officer from its premier intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Pakistani media reports say the Pakistani JIT had concluded that the January 2 Pathankot terror attack that left seven Indian security personnel dead was staged by New Delhi to spread “vicious propaganda” against Islamabad.

Kejriwal added: “It is very shameful. It is for the first time that any prime minister has insulted the country before Pakistan.”